Oh, THAT explains it!

So I have figured it out. I overheard a bunch of freshman girls talking about me in the hallway before school. I was in the workroom working, and they didn't realize that they were talking loudly.

Girl 1: Ms. Cornelius scares me!
Girl 2: Yeah, she's kinda like a guy...

(My head comes up--- "WHA???? Oh NO YOU DIDN'T!" I think....)

Girl 2: Well, you know, because she doesn't act all scared around big groups of loud big guys...

(Oh, NOW I know what she's talking about. There was a loud group of wannabe thugs in the downstairs lobby last week, threatening to duke it out. A kid alerted me and I nonchalantly strolled on over making eye contact with the kids since I had laryngitis and of course there were no administrators around. They all melted away like Lot's wife in a thunderstorm. But still. I am NOT a guy. Just because I don't mince around like Scarlet O'Hara in a corset doesn't mean I'm a guy!)

Girl 1: Yeah, she's a pretty strict principal. She made Rebecca change her miniskirt last week....

(Okay, now I've REALLY been insulted. So later on I ran into another kid who also asked if he could go to my "office" to get a new lanyard for his ID. Sure enough-- he thought I was a principal, too.)

So I very quietly walked up behind them, and when they turned, I smiled sweetly, and really freaked them out. I managed not to laugh till I got around the corner.

The freshmen apparently all think I'm a principal due to cafeteria duty and hall duty-- maybe like a dean of discipline, which we could use, since AP Pleabargain just gave a kid a "stern talking to" instead of consequences after he repeatedly refused to comply with my very gentle request that he stop cursing like Holden Caulfield at the top of his lungs while my class was in session. I certainly don't hang out with the principals-- I'm no toady.

But I don't know which is more insulting: to be a "guy" or be a "principal."